Smart Broadband To Launch IPTV Services With HFCL And MTNL; An HFCL Group Company?

Smart Broadband, an IPTV service provider, has tied up with MTNL to provide IPTV Services in Delhi, reports Business Standard. I think means that now three service providers are involved in providing IPTV services in Delhi – Smart Broadband, Time Broadband and Aksh Optifibre…this when IPTV hardly has any subscribers in India.

Smart Broadband will also be providing IPTV services to HFCL Infotel in Punjab, which are expected to be rolled out in the next three months. HFCL is targeting a subscriber base of 20,000 in their first phase.

To be honest, the name “Smart Broadband” didn’t quite ring a bell, and I couldn’t locate their website. Looking around, it appears that Smart Broadband is the same as Smart Digivision – they have the same COO: Kapil Dev Kumar, an old HFCL hand and former VP at Bharti Airtel. Whats more, Smart Digivision is an HFCL group company, so the deal with HFCL Infotel is with a group co. Smart Digivision also has a contract with BSNL for IPTV in 53 cities, and according to their presentation (pdf), is responsible for licensing content, end-to-end service and customer support for IPTV.